Redskins running back Matt Jones certainly wasn't pleased that he lost a fumble on Sunday against Baltimore, but he and the Redskins coaching staff are confident he'll bounce back.
Matt Jones had a solid rookie year for the Washington Redskins. The third-round pick from the University of Florida totaled 794 yards from scrimmage. The Redskins were so encouraged by the efforts of Jones that they made him their starting running back this season.
There was just one issue Jones needed to fix: fumbling the football. He lost five fumbles last year on 163 touches. So when Jones lost a fumble in Sunday's game against the Ravens, those criticisms loomed again. Jones, however, is not worried.
"It's a handoff exchange with me, just bobbling the hand exchange and trying to get in the hole at the same time and (Ravens linebacker Zach Orr) just put his head right on the ball as I just fumbled the ball," Jones said. "He just made a good play."
The video of the fumble confirms what Jones said. The handoff from quarterback Kirk Cousins wasn't the cleanest, and to make things more difficult, Jones was met almost immediately by Orr who knocked the ball loose from the hands of Jones.
The fumble was recovered by Orr at the Washington 15-yard line, giving Baltimore an outstanding chance to add to its 10-6 lead at the time, midway through the second quarter. But as it did all day, the Washington defense made a stand by sniffing out a fake field goal attempt on fourth down.
The fumble did not deter the Redskins from continuing to trust Jones as the lead running back. He carried the ball 14 times on the day – 11 more carries than any other Washington running back – albeit for 31 yards against a stout Ravens front. Jones also contributed two catches for 25 yards.
"I just put that behind me, because I know I'm a way better player than that," Jones said. "We just kind of knew what kind of defense they were going to come out and play in and play everything, keep it short. They gave us a nice look and we knew we had a big challenge of catching the ball and what we can do after the catch."
Despite the rough day on the ground, Jones still has had an improved start to the 2016 season. His 4.1 yards per carry is up from 3.4 last season and he has caught all eight passes targeted for him. He's easily on pace to have bigger numbers in almost every category compared to his rookie season. This success has further garnered trust from the Redskins coaching staff, and although Jones has lost two fumbles this season, he'll be in line for plenty of work against another tough defense in Week 6 – the Philadelphia Eagles.
"We see that as it was just an exchange mess-up and they kind of keep believing in me, so I'm just going to keep on grinding and not let that get to me as much," Jones said. "That's something I can fix with an exchange."
"We see that as it was just an exchange mess-up and they kind of keep believing in me, so I'm just going to keep on grinding and not let that get to me as much," Jones said. "That's something I can fix with an exchange."
